Rep. Craig Redmon must return portion of donation

Rep. Craig Redmon's campaign for State Senate had a big fundraising haul during the final quarter of 2017, but some of that money will have to be returned under Missouri's campaign finance laws.

Jason Hunsicker @JHunsicker_KDE @jhunsicker_kde

Rep. Craig Redmon’s campaign for State Senate had a big fundraising haul during the final quarter of 2017, but some of that money will have to be returned under Missouri’s campaign finance laws.

According to the Friends for Craig Redmon report filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission on Jan. 15, the Lewis County Central Republican Committee made three separate donations to Redmon totaling $12,100 over the span of three days in late December.

The funds would account for about a quarter of the $49,045 Redmon, a Republican, raised in the last three months of 2017.

Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Redmon, a candidate for the Missouri State Senate 18th District, said he’d been in contact with the Missouri Ethics Commission and his campaign committee will be writing a refund check to the Lewis County Central Republican Committee for $9,500.

Redmon chalked it up to a misunderstanding as committees navigate changes following the passage of Constitutional Amendment 2 on Nov. 8, 2016, subsequent legal challenges and eventual opinions authored by the Missouri Ethics Commission on new campaign contribution limits.

“It was pretty good for my ego that they voted to support me like that,” Redmon joked about the donations. “They’re good folks.”

As political party committees, groups like the Lewis County Central Republican Committee can accept up to $25,000 per election from individuals and other committees. Still, it is under the same $2,600 limit when making contributions.

Additionally, candidate committees are prohibited from making or accepting contributions with other candidate committees or political action committees, but they can make donations to political party committees.

The Lewis County Central Republican Committee brought in $12,670 in the last quarter and paid out $12,250. All but a $150 donation to the Lewis County Memorial Post #578 went to Redmon.